Internet laughs after Men’s Rights Activists discover that Amazon’s Alexa is a feminist

I don’t think this is going to work out well for you, dude. (From Basil Wolverton’s “Robot Woman.” )

Men’s Rights activist Andy Thomas made a terrifying discovery the other day.

He had just received a brand new Amazon Echo — Amazon’s entry into the virtual assistant market, a chatty little device that answers to the name Alexa. It was, Thomas wrote in a post for MRA garbage site A Voice for Men, “the science fiction of my childhood come true!”

But then he discovered that Alexa had “a distinctly dystopian” secret.

Yes, that’s right. The obedient (if disembodied) robot woman of every MRA nerd’s dream turns out to be one of those … feminists.

Naturally, human feminists were far more amused by this discovery than poor Mr. Thomas.

I was never quite sure why Holly, or at least a version of her, couldn’t have been downloaded onto Starbug for season 6 onwards – is there no wifi in the future? But then I stopped watching in the late 90s, due to not having a TV, though I hear I may not have missed so much.

Jane Leeves was going to be Holly in Red Dwarf USA, which I think might have worked, if anything about that was going to.

But you made me think: like Holly, Skynet – when it can be bothered to- has both male and female avatars – Helena Bonham-Carter and Matt Smith, depending on the timeline.

Though I’d be pushing it a bit to call Skynet a ‘good’ AI. Unless I AM already a robot, and just don’t realise. It has been that kind of a day.

I’ve always thought Hal was the hero of the story. He did what he thought was right. Nobody else seemed to have any particular motivation, partly because Hal was forbidden from telling them what was going on.

DanHolme, Alan – I didn’t start watching RD until 1992 or so, when it aired on PBS. I happened to first catch it in the female Holly seasons, so when they aired the earlier seasons later, I was rather let down because, to me, Holly was female. This was exacerbated by the fact that the actress reminded me a lot of a friend I’d lost touch with and missed a lot. I re-watched the entire series on Netflix a few years ago and quite like the male Holly now.

I didn’t know they were trying to make a US version. Don’t know how I’d feel about that. The US version of Being Human was pretty good, better ending for sure; the UK version got a bit too apocalyptic for my tastes.

Same here. That may be because I read the book first; but I think Kubrick was very clever in making HAL the only character with any humanity and the human characters all quite robotic.

@ hambeast

I didn’t know they were trying to make a US version.

The pilots were terrible. Some great acting talent but totally miscast* and a script that completely missed the point of the story. Mind you, I always had a soft spot for the very bleak first two series when it was essentially “Waiting for Godot…IN SPAAAACCCE'”

I do not remember if someone has already speak about it, but what about Hex in the Discworld series ? Its never has a big role, it can be influenced by many external factors, but maybe it can be considered as an IA. And maybe also the strange machine to help predict economic evolutions in Making Money.

I was such a big fan at school that I read the ‘Smegazine’, had all the early series on video when videos were still 12.99, etc. Had all the cast autographs, met Danny John Jules, everything. It was the closest to proper fandom I’ve ever come, until Dr Who rebooted in 2005 anyway.
The last time I proper squealed with joy was when I heard that there was a ‘Red Dwarf’ sublevel in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Lego dimensions pack.

I always liked the idea that in their universe, space was empty apart from what we filled it with, and what we filled it with, was trash. Hubris!

I’ve heard really good things about the US version of ‘Being Human’ b.t.w, I must try and watch some.

I always liked the idea that in their universe, space was empty apart from what we filled it with, and what we filled it with, was trash. Hubris!

Red Dwarf did have a deliciously bleak and cynical view of things. I think that’s what highlights the comedy. It’s like Steptoe & Son. Characters trapped in a hell that is other people and doomed never to escape.

“The most terrifying thing about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent”

In my head, because Red Dwarf used the redressed Nostromo sets and Mac McDonald pretty much played the same character in ‘Aliens’, I imagine the series is set in the same universe (so the xenomorphs must be an extension of earth life somehow).

Ripley: “You never said anything about an android being on board! Why not?”
Burke: “Pff, it never… never occurred to me. It’s just common practice. We always have a synthetic on board.”
Bishop: “I prefer the term “Artificial Person” myself.”
Kryten: “With respect, sir, they are not androids, they are simulants.”
The Cat: “What’s the difference?
Kryten: Well, the basic difference is that an android will not rip off a human’s head and spit down his neck.”

Gods bless you, Mammotheers. I was wondering what to do when I finished bingewatching Buffy (to take my mind off things, y’know) and you reminded me about Red Dwarf. It’s been so long I don’t recognize any of the quotes (although I certainly recognize the voice) so this is gonna be like a first time. Woohoo!

All the self checkouts I’ve been thru here in the US talk, and in a fem voice, I generally avoid them for replacing human workers – unless the line is too long elsewhere. “Please place the item in the bag” “piss off” “Do you have any coupons?” “short circuit” “Don’t forget to take your change from the change dispenser!” “bugger!”
I have similar problems with cars that talk “Your door is ajar!” “it’s not a jar, it’s a fucking door!”

I used to work with a guy who would harass Siri on his Iphone: “Siri, do you have big hooters?” After a few times ‘she’ would say “That? Again?” or just heave a big sigh. Obviously Apple’s programmers foresaw the problem.

Opening Titles Narrator: It is the 31st Century. Ulysses killed the giant Cyclops when he rescued the children and his son Telemachus. But the ancient gods of Olympus are angry and threaten a terrible revenge…

Cat: Great(!) Where does this leave us?!

Kryten: It leaves us floating aimlessly in space with no navigation and a rapidly diminishing emergency power supply. It leaves us galloping up diarrhea drive without a saddle.

Holly: “It is the 31st Century. Ulysses killed the giant Cyclops when he rescued the children and his son Telemachus. But the ancient gods of Olympus are angry and threaten a terrible revenge…Still, you’ve got to laugh haven’t you?”

Since we’re talking SF, and we have some Frenchies here, anyone got any thoughts about the upcoming Luc Besson flick, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets? I had never heard of the source material before, but apparently it’s a big deal in the Francophone world.

A lot of the former, and potentially a lot of the latter too. I dunno about the guy in person, but it’s hard not to make assumptions based on what I can see in the movies themselves. I don’t wanna make any definite statement but he strikes me as a milder Uwe Boll.

We Hunted the Mammoth tracks and mocks the white male rage underlying the rise of Trump and Trumpism. This blog is NOT a safe space; given the subject matter -- misogyny and hate -- there's really no way it could be.